Many light duty trucks, vans and recreational vehicles (RV's) are provided, as standard equipment, with relatively small outside rear view mirrors, there always being one on the driver's door and optionally one on the passenger's door. One common style of rear view mirror involves a generally rectangular mirror housing, a generally L-shaped tubular support extending horizontally from the housing and then vertically downwardly, and a suitable mount on the vehicle door for receiving the vertical leg of the support. The mirror housing is rotatable on the horizontal leg of the support and the vertical leg is rotatable in the door mount so as to provide for adjustability of the mirror face to suit the driver.
One drawback of such standard equipment mirrors becomes apparent when the vehicle, such as a pickup truck, has to carry or tow a wide load. For example if a camper body is loaded into the bed of the truck, which body usually extends sideways beyond the sides of the bed, the driver finds his view to the rear blocked by the extending sides of the camper body. Similar problems occur when towing a wide trailer.
It is already known that auxiliary mirror assemblies for both cars and trucks are available for use when towing a trailer or carrying a wide load. Such mirror assemblies are attachable to the vehicle fender forwardly of the windshield so that the mirror thereon is visible, the assembly placing a relatively large mirror farther out from the side of the vehicle than the standard equipment mirror. Such mirror assemblies are awkward to install, will vibrate in use, and increase the drag on the vehicle thereby increasing fuel consumption. There is, therefore, a need for a device which can be used to extend outwardly the location of an outside rear view mirror on a vehicle without succumbing to the disadvantages of prior art auxiliary mirror assemblies.